Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project, 1840-45
A project is underway to digitise and make available on the internet a selection of nineteenth century Australian material listed in Ferguson's Bibliography of Australia.
The Australian Cooperative Digitisation Project, 1840-45 is a major collaborative project undertaken by the University of Sydney Library, the State Library of New South Wales, Monash University Library, and the National Library of Australia.
The project will provide for the microfilm preservation and digital conversion of significant nineteenth century Australian material. This will give greatly increased access to the materials which will be available nationally and internationally over the internet via the National Library's network service.
The material chosen is serial and fiction of the period 1840-1845. This period has been chosen, as it is regarded as a seminal one in the development of Australian culture. It follows the end of convict transportation to New South Wales, and precedes the gold-rushes. During this period representative government was introduced in New South Wales, and migration to the Australian colonies by free settlers took place. It was also a period marked by increasing publication in large towns and regional centres. As well as newspapers, specialised journals began to make an appearance. The period chosen also saw the beginnings of Australian fiction.
Material to be digitised is relatively rare, and comes from the collections of the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales, and from the National Library of Australia. The priority order of titles to be converted during the project will be set by the Steering Committee and an Academic Advisory Group. Some of the individual works to be included are:
- Christie, William Harvey. A Love Story, by a bushman. Sydney, Kemp and Fairfax, 1841. 2 vols.
- Rowcroft, Charles. Tales of the Colonies. London, Saunders and Otley, 1843. 3 vols.
- Whitehead, Charles. Richard Savage. London, R. Bentley, 1842.
- McCombie, Thomas. Adventures of a Colonist [or] Godfrey Arabin the Settler. London, John and Daniel A. Darling, 1845. and
- Vidal, Mary Theresa. Tales of the Bush. Sydney, Welch, 1845.
Serial titles include a large number which had brief lives, although some like the Geelong Advertiser 1840- , Inquirer 1840-1901, Colonization Circular 1843-1859, Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser 1843- , Juvenile Missionary Magazine 1844-1887, and Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List 1844-1860, lasted somewhat longer.
It is expected that the preservation of the originals, and widespread access to the publications will be of great benefit to cultural, social, economic and family historians. It will also create a unique electronic resource of primary material for nineteenth century Australian studies, and provide a precedent for further large-scale digital conversion of historical collections.
Last updated 12 February 1996
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